Essay about Scientific Management
1824 Words
Jun 8th, 2013
8 Pages
What are the main features of Taylor’s approach to ‘Scientific Management” and what criticisms have been made of it? Do firms use scientific management today?
Frederick Winslow Talyor developed a theory called the Scientific Management. It is a theory of management that analyse and improve work process, aiming to increase labour productivity. Scientific management methods are used to optimize productivity and simplifying the jobs so that workers could be trained to perform their task in one “best” way.
Prior to the development of scientific management, works were performed by skilled craftsmen who had learned their jobs by apprenticeships and they made their own decisions about how their job was to be carried out. Scientific management …show more content…
Frederick Winslow Talyor developed a theory called the Scientific Management. It is a theory of management that analyse and improve work process, aiming to increase labour productivity. Scientific management methods are used to optimize productivity and simplifying the jobs so that workers could be trained to perform their task in one “best” way.
Prior to the development of scientific management, works were performed by skilled craftsmen who had learned their jobs by apprenticeships and they made their own decisions about how their job was to be carried out. Scientific management …show more content…
Therefore he promoted the idea of “a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work”. Work is pair according to the productivity of each workers rather than a set wage. If a worker did not achieve enough in a day, he would not be deserved to be paid as much as other workers who were more productive. However, Taylor also recognised that workers may be motivated by other ways too, other than money.
Taylor’s scientific management consisted of four principles. He replaced rule-of-thumb work methods based on scientific study of the tasks. Scientifically select, train and develop each employee rather than passively leaving them to train themselves. He provided instruction and each worker is being supervised. Works are divided equally between managers and workers, for managers to apply scientific management principle to plan work and for workers to perform the jobs. (Mindtools, 2011)
Taylor's methods and his views of the worker met with resistance from labour. In 1911 Taylorism suffered a setback when workers at Watertown Federal Arsenal went on strike. Workers did not accept Taylor's methods readily.
Although Taylor’s scientific management principles aimed to improve productivity and had a substantial impact in workforces, it also increased the monotony and rigidness of work. Flexibility, skill variety, task identity, freedom, feedbacks were all not included in scientific management. Tasks are repetitive and boring and hence
Taylor’s scientific management consisted of four principles. He replaced rule-of-thumb work methods based on scientific study of the tasks. Scientifically select, train and develop each employee rather than passively leaving them to train themselves. He provided instruction and each worker is being supervised. Works are divided equally between managers and workers, for managers to apply scientific management principle to plan work and for workers to perform the jobs. (Mindtools, 2011)
Taylor's methods and his views of the worker met with resistance from labour. In 1911 Taylorism suffered a setback when workers at Watertown Federal Arsenal went on strike. Workers did not accept Taylor's methods readily.
Although Taylor’s scientific management principles aimed to improve productivity and had a substantial impact in workforces, it also increased the monotony and rigidness of work. Flexibility, skill variety, task identity, freedom, feedbacks were all not included in scientific management. Tasks are repetitive and boring and hence